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Advice on accident

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lmsi22

Junior Member
I got into an accident as I was backing out of my driveway. I moved my car back slowly because the driveway backs out into a street where people often drive beyond the speed limit considering it is a downhill. The back of my car was maybe a 1.5 feet into the street and I was stopped in the driveway. I normally leave the car hanging out so that cars can see me backing out before I proceed.

On this occasion I was already 1.5 feet out into the street, and a car was about 25-30 feet away. The driver apparently did not see my car and did not start braking until less than 10 ft away. The driver hit the rear right corner of my bumper.

I understand that in most cases the driver backing out of their driveway is at fault. However, I was already into the street and made my car very visible(he had plenty of time to stop). In addition, the driver said "sorry" and mentioned that "they did not see and that they were distracted by the cars on the other side of the road." I have a witness who was there during the accident.

I would appreciate some advice on what the insurance might determine for who is at fault.

If I would be even partially at fault, would it be better to settle outside of insurance to avoid increased premiums? Thanks for any advice you can offer.
 


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ecmst12

Senior Member
Your state is very relevant. But you're going to be at the very least, mostly at fault. It's very unlikely that ANY fault will be assigned to the other driver.
 
L

lmsi22

Junior Member
am i still at fault if..

My state is California. Would it still be my fault if the roadway was clear when I entered it to back out? Also should I still plan on it being my fault if I have a witness who heard the other driver admit that he was not paying attention?

Thanks again.
 
J

JETX

Senior Member
lmsi22 said:
Would it still be my fault if the roadway was clear when I entered it to back out?
Click to expand...
Obviously, it wasn't... or you wouldn't have this problem.

Also should I still plan on it being my fault if I have a witness who heard the other driver admit that he was not paying attention?
Click to expand...
Pretty much.
 
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ecmst12

Senior Member
A person going straight down a street has the reasonable expectation that no one is going to pull out from a driveway in front of him - therefore it's not HIS duty to be paying attention to YOUR driveway. It's YOUR duty to be sure that no one is coming and you can proceed safely, before you begin backing out.
 
L

lmsi22

Junior Member
I understand that explanation. However,

I did not pull out as the person was coming down the street. My car was completely stopped in my driveway, but the rear end of my car was hanging out about 1.5 feet beyond the cars parked alongside the street(hence that 1.5 feet of the rear end of the car was in the driveable region of the road).

There was no car in sight while I had my car in this position for at least 10 sec(sounds like a small amount of time but it is a lot). My car was at least partially out of the driveway and in to the street before the other car even appeared.

The car that hit mine, had at least 30+ feet to see that my car was in the road and to either stop or swerve around it since it had plenty of room to swerve. The other driver admitted not paying attention and hit my car(I never had my feet on the gas while this happened. I was completely stopped the entire time).

Judging from this explanation which I think is different than your initial understanding, would I still be at fault? Thanks for all your valuable opinions/input.
 
CdwJava

CdwJava

Senior Member
You have two issues of fault here - that which would be assigned by the state, and that which might be assigned by your insurance company.

If the police had taken the report, chances are pretty good that YOU would have been found at fault for an unsafe entry into traffic. 30' is NOT all that far for reaction time, depending on the speed of the vehicle.

Now, the insurance company - even a civil court - is free to divide fault by percentages. So, when the insurance companies wrangle this, they may decide you were both at fault to varying degrees.

What does your insurance company say about your percentage of the fault?

- Carl
 
L

lmsi22

Junior Member
Fault percentage

I actually havent spoken with my insurance agent as of yet since I was trying to decide whether to go through insurance or not. I figured if it would go down as my fault I would be better off avoiding insurance. That is the main reason I posted my incident...to help me figure out how to proceed. Thanks for your informative response. I am more concerned with the insurance's declaration of fault rather than what the state would declare.
 
J

jcj

Junior Member
lmsi22 said:
I got into an accident as I was backing out of my driveway. I moved my car back slowly because the driveway backs out into a street where people often drive beyond the speed limit considering it is a downhill. The back of my car was maybe a 1.5 feet into the street and I was stopped in the driveway. I normally leave the car hanging out so that cars can see me backing out before I proceed.

On this occasion I was already 1.5 feet out into the street, and a car was about 25-30 feet away. The driver apparently did not see my car and did not start braking until less than 10 ft away. The driver hit the rear right corner of my bumper.

I understand that in most cases the driver backing out of their driveway is at fault. However, I was already into the street and made my car very visible(he had plenty of time to stop). In addition, the driver said "sorry" and mentioned that "they did not see and that they were distracted by the cars on the other side of the road." I have a witness who was there during the accident.

I would appreciate some advice on what the insurance might determine for who is at fault.

If I would be even partially at fault, would it be better to settle outside of insurance to avoid increased premiums? Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Click to expand...

Its better to settle the damages outside the insurance, first you can easily solve the problem of your car and you can avoid the time that are going to waste during the insurance investigation!
 
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ecmst12

Senior Member
If you can afford it, feel free to settle outside of insurance. That might allow you to avoid having your rates raised. If you can't afford it, well, that's why we have insurance.
 
CdwJava

CdwJava

Senior Member
lmsi22 said:
I actually havent spoken with my insurance agent as of yet since I was trying to decide whether to go through insurance or not. I figured if it would go down as my fault I would be better off avoiding insurance. That is the main reason I posted my incident...to help me figure out how to proceed. Thanks for your informative response. I am more concerned with the insurance's declaration of fault rather than what the state would declare.
Click to expand...
If the damages are over $750 you are required by law to report the collision to the state (the DMV). Most collisions do more than that in damage - repairing even a minor fender ding will often cost at least $600. They may assign fault, they may not. I honestly do not know if they are able to assign fault through self-reported collisions. But, if found at fault, that is a point against your license and thus the likelihood of increased insurance rates.

If there is any significant damage, the other party is almost certain to contact his insurance company. Unless you both agree to handle it yourselves, one of you is likely to get the insurance ball rolling and if you delay in reporting it to YOUR company, you may find yourself poorly represented.

- Carl
 
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